Today in Green IT: solar-powered cell phone networks

While we take a stable electrical grid for granted in the developed world, that’s often not a certainty in the developing world, which can make running a business quite difficult. Airtel Nigeria has complained that 70 percent of its wireless downtime results from power supply issues.

So with that in mind, the company has signed a deal with Ericson to upgrade 250 of its diesel powered cell stations with solar generation in an attempt to go green and also to access a stable off grid power source. I’m seeing more of this sort of approach, of co-building renewable energy generation next to critical infrastructure.

Texas based WindData has planned a five data center facility in Pfugerville, Texas with wind power generation locked into the plan so that the data center has good visibility on what its long term electricity pricing will be. As the world trudges toward large scale utilities offering reliable renewable energy sourcing, these sorts of smaller-scale energy projects for businesses with power needs could be an important medium term trend.